November 11, 1918: Armistice Day

November 11, 1918, 100 years ago today: At the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, an armistice was declared, ending what was then called "The Great War," or "The World War," and nicknamed "The War to End All Wars."

It wasn't, of course. There would be a World War II.

My father served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, though not in Vietnam itself. I don't know if his father served in World War II, but my mother's father did. And I have no information about any of my 4 great-grandfathers in World War I.

The last surviving American veteran of World War I was Army Corporal Frank Buckles of Walker, Missouri, who ended up serving in World War II, and was a prisoner of war. He lived until February 27, 2011, at age 110.

The last surviving veteran of any country was Florence Green of North London, a nurse in the Women's Royal Air Force, who lived until February 4, 2012, 95 years after the war's end.

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Ever since the Armistice, every 11th of November, at 11:00 AM, London time, the British monarch, or another member of the royal family, has laid a wreath at the Cenotaph, near the Houses of Parliament in Westminster.
Every British soccer team, in their home game nearest November 11, holds a minute's silence before kickoff. And everyone in the stadium honors it. Every player wears an emblem of a red poppy on their shirt, although some -- particularly players from Ireland, whose homeland was fighting a separate war for independence against their British colonizers at the time -- have controversially refused.

For many years, North London's Arsenal traveled to France, hit harder by the war than Britain was, and played a "friendly" against Racing Club Paris, which is no longer a major team. On November 11, 2011, the U.S. national team played France at the Stade de France in Paris, and lost 1-0.

In America, the tradition is for the President of the United States to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. Unless, of course, there is an anniversary commemoration in Paris, in which case, the President of France invites him to come and participate.

Ronald Reagan was great at such things, and is especially remembered for his speech on the 40th Anniversary of D-Day in 1984. Although they never served in the military, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama always handled these things just fine. Even George W. Bush, neither the most courageous nor the most eloquent of men, understood their significance, and did his job, and paid proper tribute.

Yesterday, at the Aisne-Marne cemetery, where so many soldiers, including thousands of Americans, are laid to rest, a ceremony was attended by President Emmanuel Macron of France, Prime Minister Theresa May of Britan, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, and even the head of government of the nation which, from 1914 to 1918, and again from 1939 to 1945, was the enemy, but is now a partner in peace: Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany.

Donald Trump flew to Paris, but did not attend the ceremony.

These men who lived there, some dying there, dealt with rain. Snow. Wind. Intense heat. Bitter cold. Bayonets. Bullets. Exploding shells. Poison gas. Aerial bombardment. Rats. Lice. Any number of diseases that could kill a man in those days before antibiotics.

Men lost arms. Legs. Sight. Hearing. Minds. Many fell victim to shell shock -- what we would now call post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Donald Trump, who cited bone spurs as his reason for seeking the 5 deferments he got from the military draft during the Vietnam War, and who cited avoiding venereal diseases as "my personal Vietnam"? What was his excuse for not showing up? Why didn't he leave his Paris hotel and go?

It was raining.

On September 11, 2016, while running for President against him, Hillary Clinton had pneumonia, but she still attended the 9/11 memorial service in New York. And, while walking back to her car, weakened by illness, fell.

Conservatives said, "She doesn't have the stamina to be President." This, after she had sat for 11 hours in Congressional hearings on the Benghazi incident. Some even said she was "dying."

Yesterday, she attended an event in Florida, a demonstration to make sure all the votes in last Tuesday's election for Florida's Governor and its U.S. Senator were counted. It was raining.

But Trump wouldn't go out in the rain.

I never want to hear another goddamned word about how athletes kneeling during the National Anthem are "unpatriotic" or "disrespectful to our military."

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In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
-- Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, Canadian Expeditionary Force, M.D., May 3, 1915. He died -- not from combat injuries, but from meningitis, caught from one of his patients -- on January 28, 1918, 10 months before the war's end, at Boulogne-sur-Mer, France. He was 45 years old.